Hi folks, I have come across this auction yesterday and I saw this beautiful Abbasid drachm minted in AH 98 (circa 720 AD) in city of KIRMAN, but I surprisingly saw that the mint place is identified as Dhamar! and claimed to be a extremely rare one and put up for sale with the start price of 16000 Euros!!!! I emailed the auctioneer and notified them about their mistake and they have not replied to me so far! Very unusual! and I was wondered if it was only a mistake (which I doubt), or it is a trick to sell a common type piece for a higher amount?! Please see the attached photo of this coin and similar examples sold by Steve album in 2012. Let me know what you think.
I catch a couple of mistakes each year with various auction companies. I notify them, but I rarely get a reply or a thank you. I think that once the auction is uploaded to an auction platform, such as Numisbids or Sixbid, it is very difficult to correct mistakes. Though, in recent memory, several lots have been pulled by one auction house for counterfeit coins. It's just the nature of the beast.
Thank you for your comment. My point is that I don’t really think selling a 100 dollars coin for 16000 Euros is just a mistake! If someone is knowledgeable enough to indicate how rare a mint mark is (in this case, Dhamar) they’re definitely able to read a less rare or common mint name correctly (in this case Kirman), I don’t want to judge anybody but I highly doubt if this is just a mistake!
And one more thing to share with you friends, editing lots descriptions is very easy on bidding platforms.
I don't agree at all that it probably was not a mistake. Recently...last 90 days...a very valuable coin was being auctioned by Heritage. It had a number of bids already placed. Heritage was notified it was not the correct mint noted (the difference was a lot of wampum). To their credit, Heritage corrected the listing . One could argue that the Heritage evaluators are knowledgeable in rare mintmarks, and therefore did it for the increased wampum. If so, why change the listing? Because a random Joe Btfspik emailed somebody at Heritage? I don't think so. Mistakes happen and sometimes the entity is not as prompt as one would like.
I have found that many collector specialists know more than auction houses and professional coin dealers. You have done all you can do.
Always do your research and know what your buying before you bid ! auction houses, in my opinion don’t dig deep enough when authenticating an item.
Completely irrelevant case to be used as an example! Mistakes happens, but in case of these types of coins (Islamic coins), it is 1 out of thousands (hence I said I don’t judge) for a professional expert to read a common mint mark incorrectly for some reasons (you would know if you’re familiar with Islamic coins)
Ok. I understand Attica. The coin, BTW, that I referred to, that you categorize as irrelevant, was a very famous South Korean coin, and listed by a known expert in Korean numismatics at the Auction House. So, if you spoke Korean.....you would know.